Microsoft Wants You to Build Up Your Gamerscore by Watching TV

As Microsoft's plan to dominate the living room evolves with its next-gen console the Xbox One, so has the company's vision of what you can do to earn coveted Xbox Achievements. Gamerscore is considered a measure of your gaming acumen, and the higher it is, the more impressive you supposedly appear to other gamers online. However, a new patent might just allow you to earn "cheevos" just by channel surfing on your Xbox One.

The patent (uncovered by Games Industry) was filed last November, but only now makes sense given Microsoft's presentation last week. Microsoft has already explained it hoped to expand Achievements into other areas of the console beyond gaming, but was rather vague about just what that meant during the Xbox One reveal event. This patent gives us a better idea, and could actually provide incentive for some to use the console for TV watching.

"Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive experiences with the presented content," the description read. "To increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content."

It's possible these rewards could be tied to watching an entire season/series of a show, or watching a major sporting event like the Super Bowl through the Xbox One. The Kinect could also feature into this patent, and may allow users to earn points by performing simple actions like staying in the room or holding up a specific product. "Additionally, by tying the awards and achievements to particular items of video or advertising content, viewers may be encouraged to increase their viewership of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities," the patent also said.

There's a chance this could be a separate Gamerscore as well, which wouldn't fluff hard-earned scores of longtime or even new Xbox Live users. More details on Microsoft's plans for the various entertainment options on the Xbox One should come in just a few weeks at E3 2013. In the meantime, think about how Microsoft wants to reward you for leading a sedentary life.

What do you think of earning Achievements for watching TV? A cheap incentive to use the Xbox One for cable watching, or a new way to make TV more engaging?